One of the chapters in the book titled "To All Gentlemen and Yeomen of England" contains a statement made by Ascham that makes me wonder if he didn't recognize that the practice of shooting the longbow as dictated by English law had the same virtues and benefits as the practice of Kyudo as we know it today. In this chapter he states:
“…which thing I have laboured only in this book, showing how fit shooting is for all kinds of men; how honest a past time for the mind; how wholesome an exercise for the body…”
Anyone who has the opportunity to have an audience with a Kyudo master such as Kanjuro Shibata Sensei XX will know that the purpose of Kyudo is not sport but the development of the mind and the body. I suppose if we do a side-by-side comparison, there are a lot of similarities in the practice of Kyudo and Western Archery.
In kyudo, there is a prescribed set of movements or coordinations that lead up to the release of the ya. Each coordination precise and deliberate in their nature and requiring the kyudoka to intensely focus. This sharpens the mind and the physical act conditioning the body.
Western archery is not much different in that there are a prescribed set of steps leading up to the shot. Each one necessary to ensure that the arrow hits its intended mark. Each step requiring mental focus to execute properly. This I have come to believe brings us to a state many high performance athletes refer to as the "zone." In zen practice, this is refered to as mushin.
All being told though, the purpose of western archery is to hit the target as close to the center of the target as possible in order to score the highest number of points possible. In kyudo, it does not matter if you hit the target or not. It is that state of "no mind" that we hope to achieve.
